Friday, March 17, 2017

Netflix is slowly introducing a button to skip the intro to your favorite TV shows

Netflix is rolling out a button that lets you skip the opening credits on some television shows. This week some Twitter users spotted a “skip intro” button that appears when you hover over the title sequence for shows including Netflix originals House of Cards and Iron Fist, and Mad Men (a third-party show). Both those shows open each episode with the title sequence, making it unclear whether you’ll be able to skip title sequences in shows with cold opens.The first mention of the button we could find is in a Reddit post from 22 days ago. So far, the button has only been spotted on the web. Rolling it out more broadly would require app updates on the many platforms where Netflix is available. We’ve reached out to the company asking for more information.

Skipping the opening credits is a long-standing request of many Netflix users, who are prone to binge-watching shows and would rather not watch the House of Cards smooth jazz time lapse eight times in a single day. And if episodes are auto-playing for you, in many cases the opening sequence will be skipped automatically.

As it so happens, I never skip the credits — there is an art to the title sequence, and even the mediocre ones these days still establish a mood. If you’re watching eight episodes in a row, wouldn’t you happily take that 60 seconds to check your phone while listening to the theme music? I would!